Trinity Wall Street & Wachner go “off campus,” with Juilliard, BAM & ATH performances

It’s a busy fall for Julian Wachner, the Grammy-nominated composer-conductor and director of the Music and Arts program at Trinity Wall Street. As well as leading Trinity Wall Street’s season-long “Celebrating Britten” festival, its Monday “Bach at One” concerts, and a host of other TWS musical offerings, Wachner ventures away from the downtown parish to lead other important New York events, some featuring Trinity musicians. Making his Juilliard debut leading a production of Handel’s Radamisto on November 20, 22 and 24, he also serves as Music Director of the “21c Liederabend, op. 3 / Festival of Contemporary Art Song,” part of Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2013 Next Wave Festival (Nov 22 & 23), and he takes the Trinity Wall Street Choir and Baroque Orchestra uptown to Alice Tully Hall for their third annual performance there of Handel’s Messiah (Dec 18).
 
On November 20, 22, and 24, Wachner makes his Juilliard debut leading a production of Georg Frideric Handel’s Radamisto, conducting Juilliard’s principal period-instrument orchestra, Juilliard415. The production, directed by James Darrah, stars Aubrey Allicock as Tiridate and soprano Mary Feminear as Polissena. Wachner’s gifts conducting Handel are already warmly acknowledged, not least in his annual performances of Messiah; as the New York Times observes, where others offer “a comfortable holiday tradition, Trinity put on something closer to a sacred rite.” Wachner and Trinity Choir’s rendering of Israel in Egypt was also widely lauded; reviewing the 2010 performance at Trinity Wall Street, the New York Times singled out the “marvelous series of choruses depicting the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and their aftermath. These splendid studies in tone painting were all superbly performed by the Trinity Choir, obviously well prepared by Mr. Wachner, a composer and choral director of considerable experience.” Their recording of the Handel oratorio went on to receive a Grammy nomination, such was its success.
 
Part of BAM’s renowned Next Wave Festival, the 21c Liederabend festival – now in its third year – celebrates the brave new world of art song. This season it will present ten premieres, including a piece by Wachner himself on November 23. The Trinity Choir and Trinity’s contemporary music ensemble, NOVUS NY, join an array of star soloists to perform works by Missy Mazzoli, Ted Hearne, Mohammed Fairouz, David T. Little, Marie Incontrera, Eric Whitacre, Tod Machover, Nico Muhly, and others.
 
Meanwhile, Trinity Wall Street’s “Celebrating Britten” continues to draw fans and followers of the great British composer in his centenary year. New Yorker music critic Alex Ross noted on his blog, The Rest is Noise: “It was lovely to see Trinity Wall Street – not a small church – essentially packed for the second installment of Trinity’s epic, 95-work Britten series.” Later, in his recap of some of the more notable Britten concerts taking place in New York this season, Ross added, “The richest local response remains the remarkable series staged by Trinity Wall Street, which will go on through December.” When Wachner led the Washington Chorus in Britten’s War Requiem at the Kennedy Center earlier this month, Anne Midgette reported in the Washington Post on the “strong and moving performance,” noting that “what [Wachner] offered was on a level that showed once again that he is a full-blown conductor who happens to conduct choruses, rather than that tricky appellation, a ‘choral conductor.’” Trinity Wall Street offers live webcasts of most of its concerts, as well as archived performances; they can be viewed here.
 
Trinity Wall Street’s annual Messiah presentation is a favorite holiday tradition and a welcome fixture in the calendars of New York City residents and visitors – fittingly so because the church was instrumental in pioneering the great oratorio in the New World. Wachner leads the Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra in Messiah performances at Trinity Church (Dec 7 & 8) and at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall (Dec 18).  Continuing the holiday festivities, from December 26 through January 6, Trinity Wall Street’s Twelfth Night Festival celebrates the twelve days after the nativity with a cornucopia of music including more Britten and seasonal Bach cantatas such as Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190, and Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171, composed to celebrate the New Year (Jan 2); the transcendent funeral cantata, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106, known as the Actus Tragicus (Jan 3); and Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65, and Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, both written to commemorate the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 6).
 
A complete list of Trinity Wall Street’s upcoming engagements follows, and additional information is available at www.trinitywallstreet.org and www.julianwachner.com.
 
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Trinity Wall Street
One of the oldest, largest and most vibrant of all Episcopal parishes, Trinity Wall Street is located in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district, where it has created a dynamic home for great music. Serving as director of Trinity’s Music and the Arts Program – as well as principal conductor of the Trinity Choir, the period-instrument Trinity Baroque Orchestra and the contemporary-music ensemble-in-residence Novus NY – Julian Wachner also oversees all liturgical, professional and community music and arts programming at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel. The music at Trinity ranges from large-scale oratorios to chamber music, from intimate a cappella singing to jazz improvisation. All concerts at Trinity Wall Street are professionally filmed and webcast live at www.trinitywallstreet.org.
 
 
Julian Wachner/Trinity Wall Street: upcoming performances
 
Wed, Nov 20, 8pm (Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater)
Juilliard Opera Presents G.F. Handel’s Radamisto
Directed by James Darrah and conducted by Julian Wachner
 
Fri, Nov 22, 6pm (Trinity Church, Wall and Broadway)
“Moonrise Kingdom” – Celebrating Britten’s works for Young Voices
Trinity Youth Choir, Melissa Attebury, conductor
Works by Benjamin Britten
Missa Brevis; Children’s Crusade; The Golden Vanity; Friday Afternoons
 
Fri, Nov 22, 7:30pm (BAM Harvey Theater)
21c Liederabend, op. 3, Program 1
Creative direction by Beth Morrison and Paola Prestini; music direction by Julian Wachner
NOVUS NY; Choir of Trinity Wall Street
Ted Hearne, conductor
 
Fri, Nov 22, 8pm (Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater)
Juilliard Opera Presents G.F. Handel’s Radamisto
Directed by James Darrah and conducted by Julian Wachner
 
Sat, Nov 23, 7:30pm (BAM Harvey Theater)
21c Liederabend, op. 3, Program 2
Composers: Julian Wachner, Paola Prestini, Thomas Cabaniss, Christopher Cerrone, Eric Whitacre, Judd Greenstein, Anna Clyne, Nico Muhly, Olga Neuwirth, and Michel van der Aa
NOVUS NY; Choir of Trinity Wall Street
Julian Wachner, conductor
 
Sun, Nov 24, 2pm (Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater)
Juilliard Opera Presents G.F. Handel’s Radamisto
Directed by James Darrah and conducted by Julian Wachner
 
Sun, Dec 1, 8 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight
Britten: Sacred and Profane: VIII. A Death
Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Mon, Dec 2, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Bach at One
Bach: Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott (BWV 129)
Bach: Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir (BWV 130)
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Thurs, Dec 5, 1 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Concerts at One
Britten: Quartet No. 3 for strings, Op. 94
Berg: Lyric Suite
Decoda (Owen Dalby, violin; Anna Elashvili, violin; Meena Bhasin, viola; Claire Bryant, cello)
 
Sat, Dec 7, 7 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Handel: Messiah
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Sun, Dec 8, 3 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Handel: Messiah
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Sun, Dec 8, 8 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight
Britten: Sacred and Profane: VI. Carol
Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Mon, Dec 9, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Bach at One
Bach: Suite for cello, No. 1 (BWV 1007)
Bach: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004)
Britten: Suite for solo cello, No. 2
Elinor Frey, cello and baroque cello
 
Wed, Dec 11, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Pipes at One
Justin Bischof, concert organist, conductor, and composer
 
Thurs, Dec 12, 1 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Concerts at One
Britten: Who are these children?
Folksongs
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Christopher Herbert, baritone; Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor; Timothy Long, piano
 
Sun, Dec 15, 8 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight
Britten: A.M.D.G: VII. Heaven-Haven
Choir of Trinity Wall Street
 
Mon, Dec 16, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Bach at One
Avi Stein, Principal Keyboardist; Trinity Baroque Orchestra
 
Wed, Dec 18, 7:30 pm (Alice Tully Hall)
Handel: Messiah
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Thurs, Dec 19, 1 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Concerts at One
Fitzpatrick: Prelude on themes by Benjamin Britten
West Point Band
 
Sun, Dec 22, 8 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight
Britten: There is No Rose of Such Virtue
Choir of Trinity Wall Street
 
Thurs, Dec 26, 1 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols; A Birthday Hansel; Suite for Harp
Trinity Youth Chorus / Melissa Attebury
 
Fri, Dec 27, 8 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
The Play of Daniel
Gotham Early Music Scene
 
Sat, Dec 28, 3 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
The Play of Daniel
Gotham Early Music Scene
 
Sat, Dec 28, 6 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
Des Prez: Missa de Beata Virgine
Motets of Binchois, Brumel, Busnois, Dufay, Mouton, Obrecht, and Ockeghem
Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Sun, Dec 29, 3 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
The Play of Daniel
Gotham Early Music Scene
 
Mon, Dec 30, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Bach at One
Bach: Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin (BWV 125)
Bach: Meine Seel erhebt den Herren (BWV 10)
Britten: Canticle IV: Journey of the Magi
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Christopher Herbert, baritone; Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor; Geoffrey Williams, countertenor / Julian Wachner, piano and conductor
 
Tues, Dec 31, 5 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
Rachmaninoff: Vespers
Clarion Music Society / Steven Fox
 
Wed, Jan 1, 5 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival
Rachmaninoff: Vespers
Clarion Music Society / Steven Fox
 
Wed, Jan 1, 7 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Charpentier: La descente d’Orphée
Gotham Chamber Opera / Andrew Eggert, stage director
Trinity Baroque Orchestra / Neal Goren
 
Thurs, Jan 2, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Bach at One
Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (BWV 190)
Bach: Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm (BWV 171)
Bach: Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele (BWV 143)
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Thurs, Jan 2, 7 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
“Wondrous birth, O wondrous child”
New York Polyphony (Geoffrey Williams, countertenor; Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor; Christopher Herbert, baritone; Craig Phillips, bass)
 
Fri, Jan 3, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Bach at One
Bach: Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn (BWV 152)
Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (BWV 106)
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Fri, Jan 3, 7 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Charpentier: La descente d’Orphée
Gotham Chamber Opera / Andrew Eggert, stage director
Trinity Baroque Orchestra / Neal Goren
 
Sat, Jan 4, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Bach: Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid (BWV 58)
Bach: Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind (BWV 153)
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Sat, Jan 4, 7 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
“Violini A Due”: An Italian Journey
Quicksilver (Robert Mealy and Julie Andrijeski, violins; Avi Stein, harpsichord and organ; Charles Weaver, baroque guitar and theorbo)
 
Sun, Jan 5, 2 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival – Gala Concert
Britten: Saint Nicolas
Wachner: Regina Coeli
Britten: A Boy was Born
Novus NY; Trinity Youth Chorus; Trinity Youth Orchestra / Julian Wachner
 
Sun, Jan 5, 5 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Charpentier: La descente d’Orphée
Gotham Chamber Opera / Andrew Eggert, stage director
Trinity Baroque Orchestra / Neal Goren
 
Mon, Jan 6, 1 pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Twelfth Night Festival
Bach at One
Bach: Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen (BWV 65)
Bach: Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen (BWV 123)
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
Mon, Jan 6, 6 pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Twelfth Night Festival Finale
Bach: Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen (BWV 65)
Choir of Trinity Wall Street / Julian Wachner
 
 
 
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© 21C Media Group, November 2013